“They are a great team and it always feels good to have a good competitor and to be able to compete like that,” Knowling added. “They played a great game.”

Randolph coach Marvin Chou was thrilled to get the win and take his team to this weekend's state semifinals.

“I told our girls to enjoy this win, but that we are not done yet,” he said. “In the playoffs, anything can happen. They beat us two weeks ago, and they were No. 1 in the state for a reason. This is a rivalry game and that helped us get refocused. We knew we would probably see them again in the playoffs.”

Randolph (13-6-4) advances to the semifinals to face the winner of Tuesday's Guntersville-Jacksonville match on Friday. Pope John Paul II finished 21-6-1.